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Vol. CXXXIV—No. 5

monday, January 25, 2010

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Report calls for M’ville revisions Suggestions include more private-sector development

By Maggie Astor Spectator Senior Staff Writer

patrick yuan / staff photographer

contested development | As the state’s highest court prepares to rule on a crucial eminent domain case, a report from the Center for an Urban Future released last Thursday called on Columbia to revise its Manhattanville expansion plan to include more commercial development.

Barnard expands international visiting students program By madina toure Spectator Senior Staff Writer Couldn’t swing study abroad?

The international experience may be closer than you think.

Barnard has surpassed its goal of internationalizing its student body, as more students than ever are participating in its Visiting International Students Program.

VISP, led by Assistant Provost and Dean for International Programs Hilary Link, is a

program that allows students from partner universities around the world to study at Barnard during the spring semester of the academic year. The program intends to bring more international students to Barnard while156 Barnard students study abroad for the semester.

Initially, five students— four from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and one from Collegio Nuovo in Italy—participated in the program when it kicked off last

Pipe bursts in Watt Hall Sunday, little damage A pipe burst inside a wall in Watt Hall on Sunday morning, causing a hot water leak that released steam and set the fire alarm off, according to firefighters on site.

The water leak originated from a shower in room 6M after a piece of the shower broke off, causing a flood that seeped to rooms on the M line on the fourth and fifth floors, according to a housing administrator who requested anonymity due to University protocol. But students living on the M line said they were not affected by the flooding.

“There’s not really any water damage,” Greg Cox, CC ’11, said. Cox lives in room 4M. Other students, however, were more affected by the sudden evacuation.

“It was traumatic.

I’m still reeling from it all,” Zach Levine, CC ’12 joked, who was at an Amnesty International meeting in Watt 1E when the alarm first sounded.

“It’s hard to believe it all happened today. There were pipes, and then water, and from there it’s a blur. I just hope no one else has to experience

something this tragic again.” His group eventually had to evacuate to McBain Hall.

The alarm went off at 12:19 p.m, according to firefighters on site.

The entire building was supposed to evacuate, but there appeared to be a crowd of around 30 students at 12:30.

Five trucks from the fire department down the block were dispatched to the dorm, according to a firefighter.

Students headed back into their dorms around half an hour after the alarm first went off.

“It was just a water leak,” a firefighter said.

“It was no big deal.”

Housing administrators commented that there was a very quick response to the situation.

“It’s really good that Facilities, Security, and Housing responded so quickly,” a housing administrator said, explaining that all three were immediately on site to assist.

Students living in room 6M could not be reached for comment.

Public safety could not be reached for comment.

—Kim Kirschenbaum

spring. Now, 41 students, hailing from Italy, China, and Korea, among others, are spending the semester at Barnard.

“We were approached with the idea of organizing the buddy system last semester, early on last semester based on a number of conversations we’ve had in previous years,” Katie Pallilo, BC ’10 and president of the Barnard Student Government Association, said. “One of the goals of SGA that we strive so hard to achieve is speaking to

and representing the groups that aren’t most vocal on campus or the traditionally underrepresented groups.”

Most participating students agreed that Barnard’s location in New York City and its ties with Columbia were immediate factors that attracted them to the program. “[It’s a] mix between living in New York and going to such a prestigious school and SEE VISP, page 2

Private development could promote the public good, according to a guest commentator for the Center for an Urban Future think tank.

In a policy brief released Thursday, David Hochman, an expert in technology-based economic development, called on the University to increase the economic benefits of its 17acre Manhattanville expansion by focusing more on commercial components.

As West Harlem residents and University officials wait for the New York State Court of Appeals to determine the fate of the project, Hochman argued that the expansion plans should include more emphasis on private-sector jobs, as opposed to jobs exclusively within the University.

In the policy brief, Hochman wrote that while the new campus is “unquestionably a project of transformative scope ... the Manhattanville plan has included no discernible emphasis on jobs other than in the university itself and in retail or service businesses that mostly offer low wages and limited advancement potential.” He compared Columbia’s plan to the expansion models of other universities—such as Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—in which, he said, commercial researchers “operate cheek-by-jowl with new academic

space, sparking the growth of a sustainable regional technology cluster and the creation of jobs that pay relatively well.”

Additional private-sector development, Hochman argued, would result not only in “a larger campus for Columbia, but a range of positive economic outcomes for the surrounding community.

The university’s own investments could prompt private companies based on advanced science and engineering technologies to set up shop nearby, boosting the city’s long-faltering innovation economy while creating a range of high-value, fair-wage jobs for local residents.”

University spokesperson Victoria Benitez said that Hochman’s suggestions have merit, but added that the decision to make the new campus primarily academic rather than commercial was intentional, and officials intend to stand by it.

“While we believe the expansion of basic and applied research on the new campus will also lead to the kind of innovative new businesses and job creation we’ve noted … our core nonprofit mission remains education, academic research, and patient care rather than commercial technology development,” Benitez said. “As he acknowledges, the West Harlem neighborhoods surrounding the post-industrial blocks of Manhattanville are largely residential. The University strongly SEE M’VILLE, page 2

Students find weather, season affects study habits

By Emily Kwong Spectator Staff Writer Is reading for Lit Hum easier while sunbathing on the steps of Low or curled up with a cup of hot cocoa?

The beginning of spring semester—a time of wintery chills, 20-degree temperatures, and the promise of snowstorms—sends most students fleeing to the indoors, but not necessarily to hit the books.

Blake Pollard, SEAS ’11, said that from what he’s seen, study habits weaken as the temperature rises during spring semester. “It’s easier to study as temperatures run from hot to cold than cold to hot, because at that point, you’re just waiting for it to get warmer,” Pollard said.

Seated around slices of pizza at Ferris Booth Commons on a blustery Thursday afternoon, Alberto Vadia, GS, nodded in agreement.

“Once the weather gets warmer, I’m much more likely to skip class,” he said.

anthony yim for spectator

hot and cold | Do the seasons determine study habits at Columbia? Some say that while the cold weather sends them indoors, productivity may not increase correspondingly.

Others, such as Tomoe Sugiura, GS, prefer studying in sunshine.

“Spring is cold in the beginning but gradually gets warmer, and

I actually find more energy to study,” she said.

Sugiura said that after taking classes during the summer

term through the School of Continuing Education, she SEE STUDY, page 2

Parents, locals call for return of free student MetroCards By ray katz Spectator Staff Writer Skyla Williams, a kindergarten student, commutes into Manhattan.

Five mornings a week, Skyla and her mother, Autumn Alston, ride a bus from their home near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to Harlem Link Charter School on West 112th Street‑a bus ride Alston said is made possible by Skyla’s free student fare.

The elimination of free student MetroCards was voted through

last month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is scrambling to eliminate a $383 million shortfall in its budget.

The cuts have ignited furious protest from local parents, students, school administrators and city politicians, who say that poorer students, especially from Harlem, will be left unable to get to school.

“I will be affected,” Skyla’s mother, Autumn Alston, said.

“How is she going to get to school every morning?”

On Friday, the MTA announced revisions to its original plan that would restore service to a number of bus routes and one subway line, but included no changes to the student MetroCards cut.

“It’s enough to make a family move to the suburbs, where the thought of charging students to get to school is unthinkable,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a statement. “We need to do better.

Invoking a ‘kid-tax’ is no way to balance the budget, especially during a recession,” he said.

Still, local politicians expressed confidence that the students who rely on free MetroCards will soon be in the clear. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Christine Quinn, city council speaker, have both denounced the authority’s decision.

“They’ll go back,” said City Council member Gale Brewer (D-Upper West Side). “Those MetroCards will be back for students as long as we keep up the protests,” she added.

SEE MTA, page 2

INSIDE A&E, page 3

Sports, back page

NOMADS’s ‘Dorian Gray’ finds off-Broadway home

Women’s basketball crushes rival Cornell

“The Picture of Dorian Gray,” developed by NOMADS in collaboration with Columbia alumni, recently opened at a small off-Broadway venue. This is NOMADS’s fourth production to premiere off-campus.

The Lions dominated the Big Red, winning by a final score of 68-47.

The big win earned Columbia its first sweep of Cornell since 2005.

The Light Blue was led by junior Judie Lomax, who led the team in both points and rebounds.

Opinion, page 4 Red coats, red votes

Today’s Events Blood and ballet

College Democrats President Kate O’Gorman explains why she’s invigorated and ignited by Boston’s Tea Party.

Court ballet = reconciliation during religious wars? Find out in Julia Prest’s lecture.

Buell Hall Maison Française, 6 p.m.

All together now

Sustainable investing

Sarah Leonard and Kate Redburn investigate how and why the Democratic party is being bashed.

The world is damaged, and our resources are tight. CERC and the Green Business Club present a lecture on sustainable investing.

104 Uris Hall, 6 p.m.

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January 25, 2010

Report argues Manhattanville is in need of greater commercial development m’ville from front page supports maintaining their residential character.” Last month, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division dealt a harsh blow to Columbia’s plans—which depend on the use of eminent domain to acquire properties from two landowners who have refused to sell, in exchange for market-rate compensation—when it ruled in a 3-2 vote that the use of eminent domain in Manhattanville was illegal. The Empire State Development Corporation, which approved eminent domain for the project in December 2008, appealed to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, which will hear the case in the spring. University President Lee Bollinger has said that without eminent domain, the expansion might not go forward.

But “while the courts will ultimately rule on the eminent domain question … city and state officials should now work to ensure that the university’s new campus triggers additional economic development for New York and the community,” Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center

for an Urban Future, wrote in a press release.

“Even if the state [ESDC] prevails, the battle over eminent domain should not be the final word on this project,” Hochman wrote.

“To keep the focus on the public purpose of the eminent domain procedure—the very point on which project opponents have challenged the state’s powers of eminent domain—Columbia ironically ignored the greater private-sector potential of its plans, choosing instead to emphasize jobs in the institution itself and in retail/service operations.”

The public benefits of the expansion are a central issue in the court cases, as eminent domain can only be invoked to put “blighted” land to “public use.”

Columbia officials argue that the project will create thousands of jobs and facilitate scientific research with public benefits, but the Appellate Division ruled that the expansion of an “elite private university” could not constitute a public use.

Hochman in fact argued that increased commercial components in the plan would create

more public benefits. “Carefully planned private-sector job development should now be revisited as an opportunity for West Harlem, not a threat to it,” he wrote. “West Harlem residents have fought hard to ensure themselves an appropriate share of the prosperity that will result from Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion. At this late point, however, their focus should turn to how best to partner with the university and city government in pursuit of the quality jobs that ultimately will do the most good for the community.”

Benitez noted that historically, Columbia researchers have been responsible for a number of crucial scientific developments, including radar, FM radios, lasers, MP3 audio equipment, the gynecological PAP smear, and the Apgar test for newborns. Today, she said, the University manages 600 patents and 250 license agreements that have aided 70 startup companies, all of which generate a total of $1.75 billion per year. “This kind of intellectual capital is clearly creating many new jobs,” she said, adding, “Columbia and our peer institutions have worked closely with New

angela radelescu / senior staff photographer

expansion plans | A recent report argues that increased commercial components in the Manhattanville expansion plan would help to create more public benefits.

York City’s Economic Development Corporation to encourage local high-tech development.”

While Hochman “has certainly raised some exciting and

provocative ideas,” Benitez said, “he seems to be proposing far more commercial development in and around this area than would be welcome by the local

community or contemplated in the plans approved by the city and state.” maggie.astor @columbiaspectator.com

Seasons determine where students study study from front page

rose donlon for spectator

metrocard | Local leaders are fighting to keep free student MetroCards, which were eliminated in recent MTA cuts. Advocates for the card say it may be responsible for keeping students in school.

Locals fight for student MetroCards mta from front page

Students remained concerned that paying to get to school would leave attendance rates to suffer.

“If you think about it, half of the students might drop out,” said Michelle Delgadillo, a 10th grade student at the Academy for Social Action, on West 129th Street in Harlem. “How do you want us to get an education and learn if we can’t make it to school?”

Eighty percent of students at Future Leaders Institute Charter School on West 122nd Street in Harlem use the free cards to travel to school each day, according to chief operating officer Patricia Charlemagne.

“This is really going to have a major impact, because a lot of these families don’t have the resources to drive their kids to school or the means to pay for a MetroCard,” said Charlemagne.

The MTA announced on Friday that it would be holding eight public hearings to get community input on the service changes that are also a part of the authority’s plan to close the budget gap.

MTA Chairman Jay Wilder said in a statement, “While the cuts in funding to the MTA require painful actions, we have worked hard to limit the impact on customers.”

According to some local politicians, the MTA is using the cuts as a bargaining chip—since student transportation is seen as essential, they are counting on the city or state to pick up the tab.

“Now the MTA is saying that we need to move it back under the education budget, so this is their negotiating strategy to make that happen,” said Sarah Morgridge, chief of staff for city council member Robert Jackson, who represents Morningside Heights. “The fact of the matter is that our whole Address & Email

the deep, dark vortex of winter, and that in the spring, we were moving toward the light,” Crooke said.

She also added that cracking open the books depended just as much on indoor comfort as outdoor. “It was just too cold in Butler at the end of last semester,” she commented, saying that despite efforts to study, she found the heating system insufficient and often ended up going back to her dorm room.

While skeptical as to whether this was an adequate explanation, Crooke admitted that she preferred the spring semester herself.

But for a handful of the students interviewed, windchill and humidity were ultimately irrelevant factors in their ambition to study.

Dahvay Kwon, a student in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, said that in light of his heavy course load, there was constant work to be done year-round, and weather had no effect on his willingness to complete it.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s sunny outside and everyone’s playing,” Kwon said. “We’re still in studio.” emily.kwong @columbiaspectator.com

VISP broadens BC international programs VISP from front page

education system is based on the precept that students will have access to travel, particularly at the high school level,” she added.

Sheldon Fine, a member of Community Board 7 and a former public school educator, emphasized the vulnerability of the city’s poorest students to such a measure. The emotional impact of the MTA’s announcements, he said, must not be ignored.

“I’ve been told not to worry about it. I think the fact that it was proposed, it’s out there, it’s a part of the plan, even if the intention is to restore the funds, that alone is a horrible way to hurt those who are struggling to begin with to get an education and to have their kids get an education. There are many things that are proposed that are restored; how many can you restore?”

“Why play with the emotions and the fears of the most vulnerable parts of our population?” Fine asked. “I think it’s cruel and sends a message that the government doesn’t understand the realities of

everyday families in New York,” he added.

Currently, more than 500,000 students use the free MetroCards provided by the MTA. Under the proposal outlined in December, only half of students’ fares would be covered beginning in September 2010, and the subsidy would be eliminated altogether in 2011, according to an MTA statement.

“To present a balanced budget despite losing hundreds of millions of dollars in State funding over the past two weeks requires measures that are painful to the MTA, our employees and our customers,” said MTA Chief Financial Officer Gary Dellaverson in December.

Students and parents seem ready to fight until a solution that would restore free student services is agreed upon. The last three weeks saw multiple protests, including a student walkout, directed at the MTA’s controversial decision.

“I’m willing to go as far as I can go to fight for that,” Alston said. ray.katz @columbiaspectator.com

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realized that the warmest months were the most compatible with her study habits.

“I think summer is the best time to study,” she said. “There are less students around, and you feel more relaxed.”

John Felbinger, School of Library Service ’70, GSAS ’87, and a cataloger in the Bibliographic Control Division of Butler Library, said that generally, there are more students in Butler in the fall semester than in the spring semester.

“Some of it’s the weather, I would suspect,” Felbinger said.

“Trying to sit out on the steps in December would be a chilly proposition.”

Butler records show that there is a slight increase in both the number of unique visitors and multiple entrances per individual in the fall semester, but offer no conclusive evidence of a seasonal explanation for foot traffic.

For Felbinger, the inexperience of the student body at the beginning of the academic year provides a better explanation.

“In September, you get a whole crop of ‘newbies,’ both undergraduate and graduate, coming into Butler,” he said.

“By January, students have

gotten themselves pretty well oriented” and frequent Butler less.

“Even if it’s raining cats and dogs, people will find their way here,” Dorian Hernandez, a clerical assistant at the Butler circulation desk, said.

“Rain, sleet, or snow, people come here.”

But there was little consensus among the students interviewed on which semester was the most homework-friendly.

Some, such as Logan Guntzelman, CC ’12, said they preferred the fall semester to the spring, and explained that the ability to read outdoors in early fall made it more conducive to studying.

“I think winter’s more depressing. During the summer, you can go read in the sun or get outside to reward yourself,” Guntzelman said.

And once the cold weather hits, Guntzelman pointed to the promise of Thanksgiving and other winter holidays as personal motivation.

Catherine Crooke, CC ’12, also said she found the pressures of work lifted during the warmer months, but favored the progression of the spring overall.

“I had a professor last semester who was convinced that studying became more difficult as we gradually moved toward

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the Columbia environment,” Michela Pagano, a first-year in the Master’s Degree program at Collegio Nuovo, said.

Students also found an intimacy on Barnard’s campus that they say is lacking at their own universities.

“We don’t have this kind of campus life in Denmark,” Tina Bihal, a student in her fifth year at the University of Copenhagen, said. “You can feel that there is a certain Barnard culture.”

“Here [at Barnard] it feels like everyone cares about you,” Cecilia Trovati, a second-year in the Master’s Degree program at Collegio Nuovo, said. “In general, students have to do everything on their own [in Italy].”

“In Denmark, we don’t pay for our studies so we don’t get as much counseling,” Iben Andersen, a student in her fifth year at the University of Copenhagen, said.

Some, however, described the learning environment as more challenging.

“The atmosphere is more dynamic and stimulating and more challenging because

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courses require many skills and writing and speaking skills,” Chiara Poselle Bonaventura, a student in her second year at Collegio Nuovo, said.

“Everything in our country is based more on oral exams.”

But students also said that Barnard’s course offerings were more diverse and allowed for more freedom in choosing courses.

“Every course, students can choose whatever they want,” Pang Lin, a junior at the China Foreign Affairs University, said. “In our school, some classes are mandatory.”

“We can’t choose between thousands of courses [at Collegio Nuovo],” Bonaventura said. “I can’t take ballet if I am studying political science.”

“I hear various languages like Danish, French, Spanish … other than English there are other languages I can learn,” Young-ah Chae, a sophomore at the Underwood International College in Seoul, Korea, said.

While students noted that the American education system is more open and diverse, some have found difficulties in navigating a new system.

“It can be quite hard as a foreigner to understand what is going on and how the system works,” Bihal said. She found psychology particularly difficult. At Barnard, the courses operate differently than she is used to, and there are a number of terms she doesn’t know.

Link said that the cost of attending Barnard for VISP participants varies according to the university the students are originally from. VISP students are all on the meal plan.

“Our VISP agreements are complicated in that some involve direct payments from partners which vary, and some are even exchanges,” she wrote in an email. “Therefore, calculating the finances is not a simple matter of addition and subtraction.”

Ultimately, Palillo said, both the visiting international students and Barnard benefit from the VISP program.

“Barnard definitely benefits from any kinds of diverse perspectives we have on campus, whether it is regionally or ethnically,” she said. “We become more cognizant of life outside of the Barnard gates.” madina.toure @columbiaspectator.com

Correction In “Grading disparities in CC, SEAS,” Spectator incorrectly stated the conditions under which percentage A grades appear on CC transcripts. The percentage of A grades does not appear on the transcript for any course with enrollments of 12 or fewer students, or for any colloquia or seminar with enrollments of 22 or fewer students. Spectator regrets the error.

January 25, 2010

Arts & Entertainment

Page 3

New exhibit outlines the art of Archie

Event Picks

the editors’ best bets for the week ahead

By anna cooperberg Gonzalez Columbia Daily Spectator

FOOD & DRINK

Casino Night, Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall. Thursday, Jan. 28, 8-12 p.m., $5 at the TIC. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres from the Culinary Society against the backdrop of classic casino games.

Five dollars seems like a small price to pay to sample some delicious canapes and spin the roulette wheel, and the evening is certainly a nice alternative to dinner in the dining hall.

DANCE

Dance on Camera Festival, Locations vary. Begins Monday, Jan. 25, various times, $7-$11.

Film and dance collide in a week-long presentation of shorts and documentaries that capture the complexity of movement. Now in its 38th year, the festival attempts to reconcile these two artistic media and combine their aesthetic impacts.

ART

Friday Night Sketch, 501 Dodge. Friday, Jan. 29, 6-8 p.m., free.

This is the Artist Society’s first event of the spring semester, and it launches a series of sketching classes that take place every Friday.

This student-run event gives the Columbia community access to a figure drawing session with a student model. Art supplies will be provided for students’ use, and artists of all levels are welcome. As an added bonus to attendees, there will also be free snacks.

MUSIC

Bach and the Concerto, Miller Theatre. Saturday, Jan. 30, 8-10 p.m., $7-35.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays some of Bach’s most famous works. Joining her on stage is the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, which will be performing Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge.”

BOOKS

Freedom of Expression: The Controversy, IAB, 15th Floor, Room 1501. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 6-8 p.m., free.

David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, along with other distinguished guests, will moderate this discussion revolving around cultural, religious, and political aspects of freedom of expression.

FILM

A Failed Entertainment: Selections from the filmography of James O. Incandenza, Leroy Neiman Center Gallery. Begins Friday, Jan. 29, 10 a.m.- 5p.m., free.

The protagonist of David Foster Wallace’s infamous novel “Infinite Jest” was in part a filmmaker, and one of Wallace’s intricate footnotes details Incandenza’s complete filmography, with over 70 works detailed. The Neiman Gallery has commissioned over 20 artists and filmmakers to recreate Incandenza’s imagined works in what will be an intriguing expansion of Incandenza’s already detailed world.

courtesy of ofer zimchi

‘picture’-perfect | ­“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is the most recent of four NOMADS productions to make the leap from campus to off-Broadway. Above, the cast takes the stage at the intimate 99-seat Kirk Theater.

NOMADS again on the move off-B’way By joy resmovits Spectator Senior Staff Writer

On a chilly Friday afternoon, a 99-seat THEATER off-Broadway black box theater stirs energetically as actors prepare with vocal warm-ups, costumes hang on hooks, and crew members holler lighting cues across the theater.

It’s a few hours before the unexpectedly crowded first preview of an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s only published novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”—an exploration of aestheticism and beauty—and the writer, Daniel Mitura, CC ’09, watches from the last row.

Though he has graduated, Mitura has found a way to bring a piece of Columbia with him to the (almost) Great White Way—Mitura partnered with producer Adam Blanshay and

Columbia’s theater group NOMADS to develop the project.

While at Columbia, Mitura spent the bulk of his undergraduate life acting in thesis projects and writing plays of his own, such as the musical “Plan B,” which was also developed at NOMADS and transferred to an off-Broadway venue.

In producing “Dorian Gray,” Mitura’s goal, in addition to entertaining audiences, is to show students that theatrical success can continue beyond Columbia’s gates.

“There is not a huge line between what people are doing in Lerner’s black box and what they can do here,” Mitura said, referring to the Theatre Row complex in which “Dorian” is playing.

In fact, Mitura used this ethos to bring Columbians into the fold.

Included on his technical team are director Henning Hegland, SoA ’10, stage manager Molly

Braverman, CC ’09, and producing assistant Casey Hayes, CC ’10.

Kurt Kanazawa, CC ’11 and president of NOMADS said Mitura first approached him with the script in September.

“We commented on the script, and he incorporated our changes,” Kanazawa said. “We thought we were only going to be his bank account, where he would deposit taxfree donations, but we were given a larger role in the creative process.”

To finance the play, Mitura drew upon private donations from alumni, a grant from the Columbia Alumni Association, and a $500 grant—acquired with the help of NOMADS— from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation Student Arts Support Fund. The Gatsby Fund is administered by the Columbia University Arts Initiative and supports SEE Nomads, page 6

Ah, Riverdale, that classic American town. style R e m e m b e r A r c h i e Andrews, the carrottopped, clumsy flirt, and his gang of pals? Through the Art of Archie Comics exhibit, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art showed the history of the character since its inception more than 70 years ago.

The exhibit, neatly organized into two colorful rooms, chronicled the journey of Archie Comics by decade, from the 1940s through the 2000s.

Framed pages of unpublished or rare comic art—some with scribbles in the corners—as well as Archie and Friends “pin-up” artwork and historic news clippings hung on the walls.

The pages show how much Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, and others have changed over time. Not only did the comic feature stories SEE archie, page 6

courtesy of the museum of comic and cartoon art

16 Forever | An exhibit on the Archie comics shows the characters’ growth from age 16 and beyond.

KGB Bar series offers author readings with atmosphere

By Claire fu and Allison Malecha Spectator Staff Writers Though the libraries on campus are books packed with stressedout Columbians on Sunday nights, the downtown KGB Bar is filled with a different kind of crowd.

Jonathan Dee—Columbia School of the Arts professor, author of four novels, and staff writer for the New York Times—and novelist Stefan Block both read debut passages Sunday night. The event was part of a weekly fiction night series at the

Cold-War-era‑style KGB Bar, which always pairs an emerging writer with a more established one.

Block started the night be reading from his recent manuscript, which will be published in the spring of 2011. The tentatively titled “House of Echoes” builds thematically off of his first novel, “The Story of Forgetting,” and harbors both memory and rare hereditary diseases as themes. “Memory can be a willful power, but we must always be vigilant,” Block said.

Continuing on a different note, Dee read from his latest novel “The Privileges.” The passage involved

21-year-old April, who, fueled by alcohol and drugs, embarks upon a night‑long spiral toward disaster. However, the book centers on April’s parents, who are, as Dee said, “so perfect for each other that it is problematic.”

The readers were set against a low‑lit backdrop of scarlet walls while a crowd of regulars listened attentively. As Block said, “There is always such a warm audience there [at KGB]. It’s an ideal place to read something new.” The 16-year-old bar is locally known as a meeting place for literary minds.

These fiction nights have been

running for 15 years and were the brainchild of former Columbia SoA professor Suzanne Dottino, curator of KGB fiction nights. Dottino said that the event provides “a chance to socialize with like‑minded individuals in a relaxed setting.” With oversized beers in hand, both writers seemed at ease.

Where It’s At Time: Sundays, 7-9 p.m.

Place: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th St. (between Second Avenue and Bowery Street) Cost: Free

Seeing the world through ‘Global Lens’ at MoMA series

BOOKS

Learned Virtuosity, Virtuously Displayed: Cultural Elites and Deep Purses in Restoration and 18th-Century Illustrated English Books, Low Library, Faculty Room. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 6-8:30 p.m., free.

This talk is part of the 16th annual Rare Book & Manuscript Library’s Bibliography Week Lecture event. The discussion will be led by Michael F. Suarez, S.J., a professor of English and director of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.

DANCE

Blood and Ballet: Religious Reconciliation the Medici Way, La Maison Française, Buell Hall, second floor. Monday, Jan. 25, 6-8 p.m., free with CUID. This talk is given by Julia Prest, a lecturer in the French department at the University of St. Andrews. She will discuss court ballet and its religious implications during Europe’s wars of religion.

courtesy of the museum of modern art

The rEal World | The Vietnamese film “Adrift” is just one of a number of foreign films currently playing at the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Global Lens Film Series. The series aims to foster appreciation for developing countries’ cinematic repertoires and introduce such films stateside.

By Zara Castany Columbia Daily Spectator How many Columbians can say they make film a habit out of watching foreign films, experiencing on screen what it’s like to go to school in Oman or fall in love in Vietnam? Not many, which is why the Museum of Modern Art has partnered with the Global Film Initiative to bring the Global Lens Film Series to U.S. audiences.

Global Lens is a traveling festival

that screens films from nations where the economic and social circumstances are not favorable for making movies. For budding directors, acquiring the funds, equipment, and support necessary to tell their stories through film is nearly impossible. That’s where the GFI comes in.

This nonprofit organization strives to advance understanding and knowledge among various cultures by making it possible for talented filmmakers in developing nations to have their voices heard. The organization sees self-expression as an integral part of

a nation’s growth and awards 10 to 20 grants for $10,000 every year.

Every year since its creation in 2004, the Global Lens Series has premiered at the MoMA before traveling to 35 locations across the U.S. and Canada. The eight films showing this year hail from India, China, Uruguay, Peru, Algeria, Iran, Vietnam, and Mexico.

“Adrift,” the second feature from Vietnamese director Bui Thac Chuyen, is an example of the thought-provoking cinema this festival offers. The film boldly analyzes contemporary romance through the

story of Duyen, a young newlywed who strays from her childish husband into the arms of a seductive suitor.

A tale of emotional frustration and sexual awakening, “Adrift” effectively exposes viewers to the realities of navigating relationships in Hanoi.

There is only one week left to catch this film and many others like it, as the festival runs through Jan. 29.

“Masquerades,”—a romantic comedy from Algeria about a narcoleptic woman who embraces a piece of SEE world, page 6

Page 4

Editorial & Opinion

Fired up and ready to go

The 134th year of publication Independent since 1962 Staff editorials represent the views of the editorial board Managing Board Ben cotton Editor in Chief

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SUNDAY Night STAFF: Copy Krystal Martinez, Samantha Saly

by Kate O’Gorman After the loss of Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat to Republican Scott Brown and the stalling of health care reform, Democrats may think there is very little to get fired up about. And with midterm elections fast approaching, the number of Democratic retirements may be cause for further alarm. Already frightened by an only 18-seat majority, Democrats currently stand to lose a few more seats in the 2010 elections. But while I’m not exactly fired up right now, recent events have certainly lit a fire under me.

Last year, Democrats, and especially young Democrats, had a very specific goal— to elect Barack Obama and other Democrats to state and national office. This goal was easy to get fired up about. We had a dynamic candidate and could easily help by registering 10 people to vote or knocking on 100 doors. For me, because I knew that I could make a tangible impact, I set out to make it as large and palpable as possible.

The story of Obama’s election was often told as the narrative tale of new voters, especially young voters, turning to the polls and donating to a political campaign for the first time. Media coverage circulated the lines: Would young people actually turn out? Would young people be game changers in the election? Fifty-two percent of young Americans turned out on Election Day to answer these questions with a resounding “yes.”

Staff Editorial

In response to Haiti In response to the devastation wrought by the recent earthquake in Haiti, there has been an impressive outpouring of student support at Columbia. Any university—any institution, for that matter—with a sense of social conscience has a responsibility in times of such catastrophic damage to extend what resources it can to those in need. But for a university that so fervently preaches the gospel of globalism, there is a particular duty to remember that being global means giving as well as taking.

Fortunately, Columbia’s efforts have been admirable.

Within a few days of the earthquake, a broad coalition of student groups met to discuss and coordinate responses to the disaster. We hope this coalition will serve to channel the energies of both groups and individual students. It seems to be the best vehicle through which students can magnify the impact of their work and avoid undermining one another.

With respect to the University administration, the response has been encouraging so far. The administration has supported student efforts by working to limit the bureaucratic obstacles that tend to accompany any sort of major undertaking on campus.

While students have a tremendous amount of energy and know-how to contribute to this effort, the administration has the institutional expertise and global reach that can help to further student efforts. We are proud to see that it is committed to assisting student efforts, and we hope it continues to do so down the line.

Ultimately, Columbia’s longterm response to this disaster will be just as important as its immediate reaction. The rebuilding effort will take years, but Haiti will only be on the front pages of newspapers for so long. We hope that students will remain committed to this cause for the long haul.

In the coming years, Haiti will need tremendous sums of money to rebuild. But beyond monetary aid alone, the country will need expert assistance to provide health care to its citizens, redevelop its devastated infrastructure, and diversify its economy. These are all areas in which Columbia can and should support Haiti.

Natural disasters such as this earthquake may not be within human control, but the extent of their destruction almost always is. Columbia can do its part to ensure that a rebuilt Haiti has the resources to protect its people from the manmade side of such disasters.

Massachusetts special election and buyer’s remorse by jonathan backer In 1996, the toy company Mattel Inc. came under intense scrutiny for its line of Cabbage Patch Kids Snacktime Kids dolls, products whose mechanical jaws activated when fed toy food. This seemed like a great idea until the dolls began ingesting the hair of their owners, prompting Mattel to voluntarily withdraw the dolls from the market. Across the country, consumers realized they had gotten both less and more than they had bargained for when they purchased these mutant hair lawn mowers, and buyer’s remorse took root across the nation.

Such is the state of the American electorate after exactly one year of the Obama presidency and a Democratic supermajority in Congress, except that the product cannot be voluntarily withdrawn from the market. For two election cycles, Democrats blamed Republicans for the unsavory state of the country. America’s misadventure in Iraq was not, they argued, the result of Democratic politicians lacking the gumption to resist the drum beat for war, but rather was produced by lies, distortion, and bullying from the Bush administration. The collapse of the economy, they claimed, was derived from deregulatory policies initiated by Reagan and nurtured by two Bush administrations, not Clintonera Rubinomics, which failed to challenge the premises underlying deregulatory philosophy.

Blame for the crippled state of health care, they insisted, lay at the feet of Newt Gingrich and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America for using fear-mongering to kill reform

T

January 25, 2010

Since the election, however, the young person’s story has largely disappeared in the media. Take, for instance, the current health care debate. Media coverage of young people’s opinions about health care generally focuses on the perception that young Americans believe that they are invincible and do not want health care forced down their throats. There is little mention of the fact that young people represent over a third of the uninsured population or that large numbers of students will become uninsured upon graduation. Putting aside emergency health care costs such as breaking an arm, many versions of the bill have also called for

There is evidently much at stake for young Americans, yet this narrative is lost. increased mental health care coverage—something that many young people may need access to. There is evidently much at stake for young Americans, yet this narrative is lost. Congress worried about the AARP endorsement, but what about the young people’s opinions?

Even in the recent elections, consideration of youth has been largely absent.

Massachusetts reported that only 15 percent of young people voted, while only 17 percent voted in Virginia, and 19 percent voted in New Jersey. I will not blame young people for the electoral results in these states, but I think this is indicative of the change in focus. Young people are not mobilized in the same way that they were for Obama, and Democrats—both

young and old—need to ensure that youth are incorporated into the governing administration as they were in the election.

We, as both young and as left-leaning Democrats, have a responsibility to stay involved in politics. It is our job to get out and vote. It is our job to call our senators, elect better candidates, and fight for the issues that we care about. It is our job to tell the young person’s story, because that is the story that we are experts on and that we can tell better than any pundit. It is our future that is currently being debated on a national level, so it is our job to make sure that people are paying attention.

Columbia is no stranger to being at the forefront of youth activism, and our campus has been one of the most active. But I feel that even our campus has settled down this year. During break, my friends asked for stories from a member of the politically active Columbia community, and, since I told them tales of protests and hunger strikes in past years, they had pretty high expectations. But I struggled this year to talk about the spirit of activism on our campus. It’s time for us as a community to step it up again and revive our activist spirit.

When asked about how I am reacting to the loss in Massachusetts and what I think about the Democratic retirements, I reply that I am not scared. My reaction is to ask you and my other young colleagues to turn up the heat and get “fired up” again. We used to have a goal to press us to fight for the issues we care about. But every moment is an important moment, and we need to be there. We always must be ready to go.

The author is a Barnard College senior majoring in political science. She is the president of the Columbia University College Democrats.

Bottoms up!

his morning, Democrats regained consciousness after last week’s electoral‑judicial knockout with the headachey feeling that party Sarah Leonard strategists had been & Kate Redburn so impressed with their 2008 sucSh o c k an d cess that they had Awe treated themselves to an extended vacation. Republican Scott Brown’s improbable Massachusetts Senate victory took advantage of Democratic complacency and has put the entire health care reform package in jeopardy. Conservative Democrats carefully removed their spines and are disavowing efforts to pass health care legislation immediately. Then came the Supreme Court’s overturning of campaign finance reform (along with two important precedents) in order to recognize corporations’ natural rights to First Amendment protection.

When the Anti‑Federalists insisted on the Bill of Rights, what they most feared was the tyranny of government over the bribing power of monstrously large corporations.

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry said. “Or oligarchy! You know, whatever.” Meanwhile, gay marriage has been debated in San Francisco with hardly a peep from the Democrats, essentially telling millions of children that the party of the big tent is somehow too small for both their parents. The Democrats are fractured ideologically and organizationally, and last week’s shit show is only the latest development in the ongoing disintegration of organized political party power. The Republican Party is threatened too, with Tea Partiers, Palinites, Marc Rubios, and Charlie Crists

in 1993, not with Democrats who continued to line their pockets with mega-donations from the health insurance industry.

With enough repetition, the electorate bought the message, especially when it was packaged with sleek, captivating rhetoric and a sense of historic urgency and significance. In 2006, voters empowered Democrats to resist the Bush agenda by giving them control of the House and Senate.

But even so, Democrats could not prevent the escalation of the Iraq War. Nor could they halt the effort to legally sanction the warrantless wiretapping program the Bush administration had secretly conducted. So, in 2008, voters returned to the polls thinking that a Democratic White House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate would augment Democratic power sufficiently to enact serious change. But increased power has served only to leaven Democratic excusemaking, not the legislative process.

What more do the Democrats need in order to enact a progressive agenda?

Unfortunately, no number of wave elections can insert backbone into a party whose fecklessness is only surpassed by its capacity to blame someone or something else for its failures. On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters did not repudiate the Democratic agenda, but indicated their frustration with the party’s inability to enact it. A Research 2000 poll indicated that a strong 49 percent plurality of Obama voters who cast votes for Republican Scott Brown do not believe that the president and Democrats in

all drawing attention and power away from the central party apparatus.

This siphoning of power away from the main party organization is rooted in troubled relationships with grassroots activists on both sides. Unfortunately for Democrats, Republicans have managed to capitalize on the fervor of their Birthers and Tea Partiers, even though these groups resist efforts to impose a larger party structure and message. Even more remarkable is the seeming ideological coherence of the Tea Partier crowd. Their pseudo‑populist calls for free markets and small government have gained an impressive hold over followers and reverberate up through the boosterism of bandwagoners like Michele Bachmann and even Sarah Palin. When wingers fight the party establishment, they tend to win and will surely be aided by the piles of money that corporations can throw around thanks to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have managed to absorb their supporters into the Barack Obama support group Organizing for America or alienate them from the process by allowing Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson to feed their egos on the entrails of the democratic process. But the party has taken a backward approach to grassroots activism. Instead of riding the wave of enthusiasm, gathering crowds for rallies and campaigns, the party shies away from it’s own left wing, neglecting to aid natural allies in fights with the far right by simply failing to engage.

Nowhere is this discrepancy more evident than in the fight for marriage equality, currently on circus trial in California.

Proposition 8, the subject of the current hearings and a stain on the legacy of 2008’s progressive electoral victories, saw the clash of far right evangelical money with leftist civil rights advocates like Equality

Congress are doing enough to deliver change.

A 39 percent plurality of Obama voters who did not vote in the special election shared the same view. Martha Coakley failed as a candidate, and Tuesday’s election results are the symptom of collective buyer’s remorse. Democrats simply have not delivered on the promises they’ve made.

Unfortunately, Democrats appear to be drawing all of the wrong lessons from Tuesday’s disappointment. Senator Evan Bayh, Washington’s patron saint of mediocrity, assigned blame to “the furthest left elements of the Dem party [for] attempting to impose their will on the rest of the country” and suggested that voters punished Democrats because “[t]hey just don’t believe the answers we are currently proposing are solving their

California. When Prop 8 failed, observers noted the inadequate funding for opposition groups, and indeed Obama’s silence on the proposition further alienated supporters of marriage equality from the Democratic Party. Now the measure is on trial in San Francisco, and the administration hasn’t so much as blinked at it. By ignoring such an important opportunity to defend civil rights, the Democratic Party is marginalizing itself. Unlike the Tea Partier crowd, lefties lack coherent vision without the guidance of a major party. It’s a problem whose consequences have come up over and over in the past year, such as in Maine’s marriage equality fight and in the lost race to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate.

Democrats need a major dose of courage, and the grassroots are one place to find it. Instead of running away from the good fights, Democrats need to encourage activist campaigns, allowing good ideas to filter up through the grassroots in exchange for financial support from above.

Howard Dean’s 50‑State Strategy remains a good start, encouraging local activists to build up their own local organizations with party money. Loud, vigorous support for issues like marriage equality should be the Democrats’ main point of pride and should not treated as an embarrassment in front of disapproving Republican colleagues.

With all his talk of bipartisanship, Obama’s Democrats are forgetting the benefits of real partisanship, which takes advantage of activists’ aggressive politics to give those in power cover and support to actually defend progressive convictions.

Sarah Leonard is a Columbia College senior majoring in history. Kate Redburn is a Columbia College senior majoring in history and African studies. Shock and Awe runs alternate Fridays. opinion@columbiaspectator.com

problems.” Rather than concluding that voters are frustrated with the inability of Democrats to produce any meaningful results with the deck heavily stacked in their favor, Bayh and his fellow conservative Democrats are using the election as another excuse to defer change.

Ultimately, however, progressives will determine the party’s fortunes moving forward.

They can start by insisting that Congress pass health care reform through budget reconciliation, which requires only a majority vote in the Senate. They should also forcefully push for reform of the filibuster. This arcane structure does not exist in the Constitution. Democrats who possess any guts whatsoever should stand behind Senator Tom Harkin’s proposal to make cloture subject to 60 votes initially, then lower vote thresholds, so that the minority has the ability to use parliamentary tactics to clog the Senate agenda, but not indefinitely. Changing Senate rules requires only a majority vote, so the only thing standing in the way of this common-sense reform is Democratic squeamishness.

If progressives fail to lead Democrats in taking these steps to restore a sense that their party is capable of delivering on any of its promises, then buyer’s remorse will only grow, and Republicans will take back the House in 2010.

illustration by Rebekah Kim

The author is a Columbia College senior majoring in political science and history.

He is the founder and director of the Progressive Caucus of the Columbia University College Democrats.

January 25, 2010

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Arts & Entertainment / Sports

January 25, 2010

Museum exhibition chronicles the drawing process as Archie grows up archie from page 3

courtesy of ofer zimchi

Worldly works | ­Attendees at MoMA’s Global Lens Film Series can view a number of international films, including “My Tehran for Sale.” The series highlights the unique voices of global filmmakers.

Film series shows audiences the world through a multicultural camera eye world from page 3 false gossip to trick the man she loves into taking action—is showing this week, as is “My Tehran for Sale,” a riveting look at a terminally ill Iranian ac‑ tress trying to find success in the underground art scene of Tehran.

While “Avatar,” a movie set on a completely fabri‑ cated planet, has grossed over a billion dollars inter‑ nationally, there’s no reason why students shouldn’t also experience films from their own universe. By

taking the short trip to the MoMA, Columbians can contribute to the development of cross-cultural understanding and tolerance through filmmaking, all from the comfortable seat of a theater.

Where It’s At Time: Now through Jan. 29, times vary Place: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd St. (between Fifth and Sixth avenues) Cost: Free with CUID

Light Blue falls short as Big Red captures late lead in 200 IM men’s swimming from back page this time in the 200 breaststroke, forcing junior Ross Ramone and Tang to settle for second and third.

Ramone touched the wall 2:07.80 from the start, and Tang did so in 2:07.86.

MacKenzie, Dols, and Smith finished consecu‑ tively for the second time in the meet, this time behind Cornell’s Dean Holcomb in the 500 freestyle.

The sophomores came in at 4:39.94, 4:47.48, and 4:50.35, respectively.

After shrinking the gap in the breaststroke and freestyle, Cornell forced another lead change with

a win in the 100 butterfly. Esquen took second place yet again, finishing in 51.10 seconds. Barron took fourth in 52.17.

Next, Pagan, Dols, and sophomore Erik Mai lost to two Big Red swimmers in the 200 individual medley, which left it all up to the 400 freestyle relay. Columbia needed to sweep first through third to win the meet.

While the team composed of Dougherty, Phillips, Esquen, and Powell took first, Cornell snagged the next two places and edged out the Light Blue 152-148.

The Lions will continue the search for their second win in the Ancient Eight this Friday against Brown.

related to pop culture fads, but the characters also changed fashions along with the passage of years. For Betty, the twinsets and full skirts of the ’50s lasted only so long and were soon replaced by pants, bikinis, and quite a few fringed acces‑ sories. Archie’s famous “R” letter sweater from Riverdale High was tossed in favor of a T-shirt and jeans. While the snobby Veronica Lodge also changed her style throughout the decades, her custom outfits and Paris-ordered gowns remain, as do the Lodge fortune and the indoor swim‑ ming pool that so often attract the boys.

Perhaps some students read the series as teens, sympathizing with Betty’s unrequited love and laughing at Jughead’s continual pleas to borrow five dollars from Archie. If so, they’re in for a shock: The comics have changed quite a lot in the past few years. The main crew is still there, and yes, the characters are all still 16, but

they’ve got a newer, sharper look. Think graph‑ ic-novel-esque characters rather than the The Sims—it’s that different. But don’t fret! Archie Comics purchased today include a mixture of old and new “vintage-style” comics. As for the subject matter, Archie’s finally growing up, even if it is only in the realm of dreams—he’s already been married twice. I guess one can only be 16 for so long.

Check out America’s eternal teenager at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, located at 594 Broadway, Suite 401. The exhibit runs through Feb. 28, with a $5 suggested donation.

Where It’s At Time: Tuesday-Saturday, 12-5 p.m.

Place: Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, 594 Broadway, Suite 401 (between Houston and Prince streets) Cost: $5 suggested donation

NOMADS’ ‘Dorian Gray’ marks its fourth off-campus theater premiere nomads from page 3 non-academic student artwork. Arts Initiative events & outreach coordinator Chad Miller served as the Gatsby mentor for the play.

The production is a boon for NOMADS. Dorian,” its fourth off-campus production since the group’s creation in 2003, kicks off the spring season, which will include an original opera, a new work festival, an electronic show, and a mixed media performance.

For Mitura, the play represents his growth since high school when he first adapted Wilde’s story. “I had years of experience,” he said. “It’s almost as if I’d been working on it for five years.”

Mitura said he found the material compelling because it raises provocative questions about art and enjoys popularity.

According to Barnard English professor William Sharpe, stage versions of Dorian Gray proliferated after World War I and have experienced a recent resurgence in popularity. “I suspect the current interest is due to

the revival of all things Victorian and ‘Victorian,’—that is to say, our contemporary fascination with Victorian texts and topics … is in part a genuine fascination with the past and in part a fantasy designed to explore our own obsessions by transplanting them to a costume— drama world of the filthy rich and the even filthier poor,” Sharpe said in an e-mail.

For Mitura, the trick of adapting the text for a stage was making it his own while preserving Wilde’s voice. “It’s reading the novel and re-expressing it in terms of the stage. I haven’t changed any plot things,” he said. “And yet I’ve emphasized certain elements over others, and in that way it’s mine.”

Where It’s At Time: Now through Feb. 6, times vary Place: Kirk Theatre, 410 West 42nd St. (between Ninth and Tenth avenues) Cost: $18

Columbia ready to overcome 0-2 start in Ivy play

Wong, Nichifor upset No. 27 doubles team

men’s basketball from back page

men’s tennis from page 7

that hasn’t happened for Columbia. The Lions’ current squad, though immensely talented, has not had a real shot to play together, due both to injury and to age.

But Jones knew this coming into the season, and isn’t ready to count his team out yet.

“We’ve been 0-2 [at the start of league play] now for four years,” he said. “This is not some‑ thing that’s new to me or our program, and we’ve always been able to dig ourselves out of the hole and make a run.”

While acknowledging that the Lions did not play their best basketball against Cornell, Scott agreed with his coach that as the season pro‑ gresses, they will get better.

“I think we’re really going to surprise people in this league,” Scott said.

No. 13 ranked player. Both players went toe‑to‑toe from the baseline in the first set, as Nolan capitalized on Wong’s unforced errors to take the first set 6-3.

Wong’s powerful forehand began to find the mark in the second, as he stormed back to win it 6-4, but Nolan steadied himself and won the match in a third set tiebreak. Nichifor, who is ranked No. 7 in the northeast, found himself in a contentious match at No. 2. Nichifor lost the first set to Muppidi, but stead‑ ied himself as he found the range on his forehand and serve in the second set, winning it 6-3. However, Muppidi outplayed Nichifor in the third and final set, and won the match 6-3 in the third set.

The Lions will next be in action when they travel to Mississippi for the prestigious ITA Team Indoors Kick-Off Weekend tournament, which is scheduled to run from January 30th to the 31st.

January 25, 2010

Sports

Page 7

Women’s swimming and diving cruises past Big Red in Homecoming meet By julia garrison Spectator Staff Writer

shivina harjani for spectator

en garde | The Columbia fencing team finished with mixed results in its first competition of the season.

Fencing clashes with top opposition achieving mixed results in tournaments Nina lukina Spectator Staff Writer Columbia’s fencing teams competed against the top teams in the country at NYU and St. John’s this past weekend. In their first team competitions of the season the Lions came away with mixed results, making a better showing on their first day.

At NYU, the women’s team won three of five matches, bouncing back after losing its first two matches of the day. The Lions lost to Northwestern in a close contest with a final score of 14-13, followed by a 15-12 defeat at the hands of Notre Dame. The Columbia women’s team took home victories in its next three matches against Ohio State, Wayne State, and St. John’s. The Light Blue beat out Wayne State with a resounding 22-5 victory and finished the day with a 16-11 win over the St. John’s Red Storm, which beat the Columbia women at NYU last year.

The men finished with an overall 2-3 in matches, splitting the score for the Light Blue combined teams with a total of five wins out of 10. Columbia won its first match against Stevens

Tech 18-9 but lost its next two matches 20-7 to Notre Dame and Ohio State. The team gave Wayne State a 15-12 defeat before losing its final match of the day to St. John’s.

The next day at St. John’s the Lions competed against familiar foes from the day before with the addition of NCAA champions Penn State. The Light Blue won three of their ten matches. The women won again against Ohio State in the first round with a score of 15-12, but lost their next three rounds against St. John’s, Harvard, and Notre Dame. St. John’s avenged their loss the day before with a 16-11 win and Notre Dame won by an even wider margin on Sunday with a final score of 18-9. The women finished the day with an impressive 14-13 win against Penn State.

The men lost all of their matches, beginning with a 21-6 loss to Ohio State, followed by 16-11 losses to St John’s and Harvard. Notre Dame handed The Light Blue a 23-4 defeat and the men finished the invitational with a close 14-13 loss to Penn State.

The fencing team’s next competition will be their homecoming contest, in which they will face NYU, Sacred Heart, and Vassar in the Blue Gym on Feb. 3.

The stands at Uris Pool were packed with fans and alumni this past Friday for the women’s swimming and diving homecoming meet.

Columbia didn’t disappoint the crowd, dominating Cornell 179-121 and improving its record to 4-2 (2-2 Ivy).

The Big Red had an early lead in the meet, gaining the first and third spots in three‑meter diving. However, sophomore Stephanie Foster was able to finish second in the competition and the Lions came back to win the 200 medley relay, with Lacey Harris‑Coble, Mariele Dunn, Allison Hobbs and Katie Meili finishing in 1:47.26.

Abby Reilly and Molly Dengler helped the Lions surge ahead, finishing first and second in the 1000 free, and Paige Endsley made a strong contribution for her team by securing first place in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Reilly finished just after her teammate in the 500, coming in at 5:07.95.

In the 100 breast, teammates Meili and Dunn clinched first and second place, furthering Columbia’s lead, and in the 200 butterfly freshman Caroline Lukins had an exciting win over Cornell’s Christina DiMaria, beating the Big Red’s swimmer by only a fraction of a second.

The diving team raked in more points for Columbia, with Kristen Hehir placing first and Stephanie Foster taking third, and when the lanes opened again, more wins flooded in for Columbia. Mariele Dunn placed first in the 200 breast, touching the wall over five seconds before any of her opponents. Senior captain Caitlin Bertelsen dominated the 200 IM, finishing in 2:10.79, while teammate Isabelle Vandenbroucke placed second in 2:11.77.

Wrapping up the meet nicely, Columbia’s Meili, Endsley, Christina Hughes and Harris-Coble won 400 free relay, the last event of the day.

This meet was a special one for Columbia, especially for the seniors. Senior Katie Omstead remarked that “Homecoming is always a blast, mainly because we have a lot of friends and family in the stands that come to support, cheer for, and attempt to embarrass us. This year, not only did we have a really competitive meet to swim, but there were so many truly amazing performances and eventually an overall win that I think really made this homecoming especially fun.”

She looks forward to Columbia’s success throughout the rest of the season, saying “In

jose giralt for spectator

splashing ahead | Hehir and Foster fueled a CU win.

Cornell

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all of my years on the team, we have never had as talented and as impressive a group of girls as we do this year. As seniors, it’s a bittersweet feeling to know that the end of our final year is so close, but I think all the seniors are endlessly excited to see just how amazing our team will be by the end of the season.”

The Light Blue’s success over the Big Red marks its fourth win in a row and improves the team 4-2.

The next competition for women’s swimming will be in Norton, Massachusetts when they face off against Brown this Saturday, January 30th at 7 p.m.

Men’s tennis team serves Boston College in season opener

By kunal gupta Spectator Senior Staff Writer The men’s tennis team dominated Boston College in its spring season opener, defeating the Eagles by a score of 5-2. The match saw one of the biggest upsets of the season in the doubles point, as the Columbia doubles team of Jon Wong and Mihai Nichifor easily defeated the No. 27 doubles team in the country, the duo of Thomas Nolan and Erik Kreutzer. Wong and Nichifor took out the Eagles duo 8-3, in a match that was a rout from the very beginning. In addition, two freshmen notched their first dual match singles victories of their careers, as Cyril Bucher won at No. 4 singles, and Nathaniel Gery won at No. 6 singles.

The Lions got off to a fast start to the match, paced by the doubles victory by Nichifor and Wong. In addition to that upset, the Lions swept the doubles point, as sophomore Haig Schneiderman and Gery won at No. 2 doubles by a score of 8-3. Their opponents, Akash Muppidi and Jonathan Schroeder came into the match ranked as the No. 4 doubles team in the region, based on their victories during the fall.

At No. 3 doubles, freshman Rajeev Deb‑Sen and junior Kevin Kung teamed up for Columbia to win the tightest doubles match of the day, as they took out their opponents by a final score of 8-6, in a match that featured terrific serving and returning.

The Lions got off to a fast start in the singles as well, using their depth to simply overpower the Eagles at the bottom of the lineup. Columbia won at No. 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles, all of the matches in straight sets. Schneiderman paced the Lions in singles, winning his match at No. 3 singles 6-2, 6-2 using a powerful serve to keep his opponent off guard. Bucher used an all‑court game, and displayed his volleying skills at net, and defeated his opponent at No. 4 singles by the final score of 6-1, 6-3. Deb‑Sen, who played mostly at No. 6 singles last season, moved up to play No. 5 and won his match easily in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. At No. 6 singles was the Lions top recruit Gery. Gery entered Columbia as a highly touted player out of Canada with an international ranking of No. 190 as a junior.

Gery played consistently all afternoon, downing his Boston College opponent by a score of 6-1, 6-2.

kunal gupta for specator

strong return | Tennis won its first match this year, thanks to solid play from freshmen Bucher and Gery.

The top two singles matches provided the most intrigue of the afternoon. Wong, a senior co‑captain, played at No. 1 singles and took on Thomas

Nolan. Wong entered as the No. 2 ranked singles player in the northeast, and Nolan entered as the SEE men’s tennis, page 6

Light Blue set new records in high jump and weight throw events By gregory kremler Spectator Staff Writer

file photo

Record Breaking | Track and field begins preparation for Heptagonal Championships in six weeks.

BY THE NUMBERS 23.2

The percentage that Columbia shot from the floor, amounting to only 51 points­and tying a season low.

18

The total number of turnovers the Light Blue had in Saturday’s contest, compared to the Big Red’s 15.

Columbia track and field returns from Hanover, N.H. this weekend with enhanced perspective, and looks to complete the necessary preparation for the Heptagonal Championships six weeks from now. This being the first competitive endeavor of the season, expectations were not exceedingly high.

Nonetheless, numerous Lions managed to impress, and new records were set in the high jump and weight throw events.

The women won the meet, exhibiting solid performances on multiple fronts. Distance was well represented, with juniors Jacqueline Drouin and Julie Quinn sweeping the mile, which allowed Columbia to place second through fourth in the 1,000-meter event.

Sophomore Kyra Caldwell

dominated the 60-meter hurdles, winning both the preliminary and final sections, with junior Melesa Johnson right behind. Sophomore Sarah Engle’s 3.66-meter was good enough to win the pole vaulting event, and freshman Dora Vegvari and sophomore Uzunma Udeh won the long and triple jumps.

None, however, outshined Nnena Okwara and Monique Roberts in the weight throw and high jump events.

Freshman walk-on Okwara is a true gift to the program, and her throws have turned heads.

“Nnena was a huge surprise for us,” head coach Willy Wood said. “She had a great throw and set a new school record in the weight throw in her first college meet.”

Sophomore Roberts is continuing the success that earned her a bid to the NCAA

Championships last spring. Her 5-foot-11.25-inch jump decimated the field and a decadeold school record. “Monique had an amazing meet and is currently tied for sixth in the NCAA,” Wood said.

The men did not fare as well because they were underrepresented. Matthew Casey was a highlight to an otherwise bleak day, with a breakthrough performance to win the 3,000-meter in a 40-second personal record. But Wood was undeterred.

“It was obvious that this was our first meet back and that we have a lot of work to do. I am confident that everyone fully understands what is needed to be ready for Heps,” he said.

The Lions next lace up the spikes this Saturday at the Armory Invitational in the New Balance Track and Field Center in Washington Heights, N.Y.

Spectator Pixbox Standings: Week 1

IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS W

L

PCT

W

L

PF

PA

PCT

1

Tom “The Mouth that Roared” Di Benedetto

5-3

Cornell

2

0

1.000

16

3

75.9

66.4

.842

2

Jelani “Can’t Knock the Hustle” Johnson

4-4

Harvard

2

0

1.000

13

3

77.2

66.2

.813

2

Lisa “That’s What She Said” Lewis

4-4

Brown

1

1

.500

7

12

68.8

73.7

.368

2

Lucas “In the Refrigerator” Shaw

4-4

Yale

1

1

.500

7

12

68.2

71.3

.368

3

Bart “The Tailgaiting Tales” Lopez

3-5

Columbia

0

2

.000

6

10

64.3

67.2

.375

3

Jacob “Put it on the Board” Shapiro

3-5

Dartmouth

0

2

.000

4

12

54.7

65.1

.250

3

Holly “The Eyes of Texas” MacDonald

3-5

Princeton

0

0

---

9

5

57.9

56.6

.643

8

Matt “The X-Factor” Velazquez

2-6

Penn

0

0

---

1

12

63.2

80.0

.077

9

Kunal “Moving the Chains” Gupta

1-7

SportsMonday Monday, January 25, 2010 • Page 8

Winning puts butts in the seats

W

ell, we came, we packed the house, and Cornell went back to Ithaca with a 2-0 Ivy M at t League record.

Vel azquez In all honesty though, the reT he X sult of the game Fac tor was not very surprising. A Columbia win would have been a cause for a good old-fashioned court storming, but no one in gym could have really expected it to happen.

While it was cool to be part of a sold out crowd in Levien that included an NBA scout from the Clippers and former Nets coach Lawrence Frank—both undoubtedly there to see Big Red stars Ryan Wittman and Jeff Foote— this column isn’t about that game.

This column is about the women’s basketball game on Saturday, which was much more sparsely attended but equally one-sided.

Many people had high hopes for the Columbia women’s basketball team when the season began because it was returning a strong corps of players, including four starters. Led by seniors Sara Yee and Danielle Browne as well as junior Judie Lomax, it seemed as if the Lions finally had a team that could legitimately challenge the upper echelon of the Ivy League.

Thus far, the Light Blue has not disappointed. Head coach Paul Nixon’s team is 11-5, with three of its losses coming against teams from major conferences (Iowa, St. John’s, and North Carolina State).

Though I had gone to other women’s basketball games earlier this season, I have to admit I was a little surprised by what I saw on Saturday afternoon. The Lions played as solid of a game as I have seen them play. Lomax paced the Lions with 30 points and 17 rebounds and even outscored the Big Red 18-17 in the first half.

Despite the fact that Lomax was a dominant force on offense, it never seemed like the Light Blue was one dimensional, which kept Cornell honest. When the Big Red tried to buckle down in the paint, the Lions were able to kick the ball back out to the perimeter for open shots.

Finishing off a season sweep of Cornell this weekend was definitely an important step for the Lions, but this weekend’s game won’t turn many heads. Next week, however, the Light Blue will embark on its most important road trip of the season, as it takes on perennial powers Harvard and Dartmouth.

The Big Green were picked in the preseason media poll to repeat as Ancient Eight champions for the third consecutive year and got off to a good start in the league with a 45-44 win over Harvard in Hanover on January 16.

The road trip to Harvard and Dartmouth next weekend is where the Lions have a chance to make a loud statement to the rest of the league that they are legitimate contenders for the league crown.

Along with being able to make a statement to the other members of the Ancient Eight this weekend, the Light Blue has the chance to turn some heads on this campus.

If the Lions can pull off at least one upset this weekend and sweep Brown and Yale on the road next weekend, they’ll return to Levien Gym on February 12 with a 5-1 league record and be at or near the top of the league standings.

Columbia may not be lacking in the school spirit department, but I’ve seen students get on board with teams that win—case in point, the 2006 women’s soccer team. I know many people who made the trip to Harvard to cheer on that team as it won the Ivy League.

Why? Because everybody loves a winner. The house may not have been very packed for the women’s game on Saturday, but if the Lions can put some more wins on the board, we’ll see what Levien looks like in a few weeks.

Matt Velasquez is a Columbia College junior majoring in History. sportseditors@ columbiaspectator.com

angela radulescu / senior staff photographer

overwhelming offense | The Lions are off to their best conference start ever under head coach Paul Nixon, as they rolled over the Big Red in a 68-47 CU victory.

Women’s basketball completes Cornell sweep Junior forward Judie Lomax outscores Big Red in first half, 18 to 17 By michael zhong Spectator Staff Writer

Judie Lomax scored 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds while guard Melissa Shafer contributed 12 points off the bench as the Columbia women’s basketball team routed Cornell 68-47 on Saturday.

Columbia also defeated Cornell 68-44 last weekend, contributing to its first season sweep of Cornell since 2005.

Lomax made sure that the Light Blue would achieve that sweep, outscoring the entire Cornell team 18 to 17 in the first half.

She displayed her entire offensive repertoire, including an array of post-up moves, soft jumpers, and drive-bys.

Her dominant performance prompted Cornell to change its defensive scheme,

cornell

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which switched from zone defense in the first game to man-to-man in the second.

This change gave Lomax more room to operate, and she exploited the opportunity, leading Columbia to a 35-17 halftime lead.

In the last game between these two teams, the Lions shot just seven of 26 from 3-point range. This time, Shafer got things going, draining her first three 3-pointers to help the Lions pull away from the Big Red early.

“She was a big spark off the bench for us,” head coach Paul Nixon said. “I was really pleased with the way she came in and

hit those shots and was able to give us that separation early in the game.”

Defensively, the Lions’ full-court press suffocated the Big Red, generating seven steals and causing the Big Red to turn the ball over 17 times in the half. Cornell ended the game with 30 turnovers and a field goal percentage of just 26.1 percent.

Junior Kathleen Barry missed part of the first half with a finger injury sustained early in the game but still finished with a game-high five steals to lead Columbia’s defensive effort. The Light Blue also held Cornell’s senior Lauren Benson in check. Anticipated to become Cornell’s all-time assist leader by the end of this year, Benson was plagued by the Light Blue defense and finished with just two assists and four turnovers.

“She [Benson] is one of the best point guards in the Ivy League.” Nixon said. “I think us limiting her in these two meetings has been a big part in the victories.”

Cornell’s Clare Fitzpatrick scored a career-high 14 points to lead the way for the Big Red. Benson and Spencer Lane chipped in nine points each.

Lomax and Shafer finished in double digits with 30 and 12 points, respectively.

Lauren Dwyer contributed eight points, and Danielle Browne provided six points and a game-high seven assists.

The Lions are now 2-0 in Ivy League play for the first time in head coach Paul Nixon’s tenure and now stand at 11-5 overall. Cornell has dropped to 5-10. The Light Blue play their next game at Harvard on Friday at 7 p.m.

Light Blue struggles offensively in 51-77 loss to Big Red By michele cleary Spectator Senior Staff Writer

jenny hsu / senior staff photographer

almost there | Swimming came up just short in a close loss to Cornell.

Men’s swimming comes up short in homecoming meet By victoria jones Spectator Staff Writer Yesterday, the Columbia men’s swimming and diving team fought valiantly in its homecoming meet to avenge last year’s loss to Cornell, but came up a few points short on the wrong side of a 152-148 decision.

Freshman Jason Collazo drew first blood for Columbia, winning the three-meter dive with 305.48 points.

With fellow freshman Michaelangelo Borghi’s fourth-place finish, the Light Blue went up 11-8.

The Lions also started strong between the lanes, as the 200 medley relay team of junior Jonny Bailey, senior Eric Tang, sophomore Bruno Esquen, and junior Adam Powell took first in the event.

Sophomores Sean MacKenzie, Chester Dols, and Alex Smith then swept the 1,000 freestyle. MacKenzie won in 9:50.58, with Dols close behind in 9:52.96 and Smith following in 10:02.79.

Cornell responded by taking the top two places in the 200 freestyle.

Senior Darren Pagan was the first swimmer in blue to touch the wall, taking third in 1:43.41. Freshman Mitchell Phillips and sophomore Joseph Beutler grabbed the next two places with times of 1:45.07 and 1:45.94, respectively.

The Lions snagged second and

Cornell

152

Columbia

148

third in the 100 backstroke, with Bailey finishing in 52.04 and freshman Patrick Dougherty close behind in 52.13 seconds.

Cornell bested the Light Blue in the 100 breaststroke, and took the lead as Tang was only able to take second place with a 58.07 swim.

The 200 butterfly saw the Big Red outtouch the field yet again, but Esquen, sophomore Robert Eyckmans, and senior Nick Barron teamed up to take second through fourth.

Powell posted another win in the Columbia column with a 20.51 second swim in the 50 freestyle, beating Cornell’s top competitor by 0.78 seconds, and the Light Blue jumped back into the lead with Collazo’s and Borghi’s first- and second-place dives off the one-meter board.

Adding to Columbia’s lead, Powell won the 100 freestyle in 45.56 seconds, while Phillips contributed another point with his fifth-place finish.

Dougherty and Pagan raced together again in the 200 backstroke, as Dougherty took second place in 1:54.09 with Pagan close behind in third with a 1:54.28 finish.

The Big Red took another first place, SEE men’s swimming, page 6

Home-court advantage was not enough to lift the Columbia men’s basketball team over reigning champion Cornell, as the Big Red triumphed 7751 in Saturday’s matchup. The Lions came into the game looking to avenge its 74-53 loss to Cornell on Jan. 16, but instead lost by 20-plus points for the second weekend in a row.

The game did not start out well for the Light Blue, beginning with a dunk from Cornell senior center Jeff Foote. Big Red senior forward Jon Jaques scored next with a 3-pointer, putting Cornell up 5-0.

Columbia would not score until three minutes into the first half, when freshman center Mark Cisco netted a layup.

As the Big Red continued to build its lead, the Light Blue struggled to keep up.

“You got to make some tough shots if you’re going to beat them, and really make some plays, and tonight we didn’t do that,” senior point guard Patrick Foley said.

With 2:48 left to play, Cornell led by 16 on a 3-pointer from senior forward Ryan Wittman, assisted by senior guard Louis Dale.

Though Wittman is Cornell’s leading scorer, averaging 18.2 points per game, Dale led the Big Red with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Dale also posted eight assists, four rebounds, and two steals.

Things only got worse for the Lions in the second half, as the Big Red was able to lead by as much as 27 with 11:37 left to play.

Though the Columbia defense allowed Cornell to shoot 47.4 percent from the field, it was really offensive struggles that held the Light Blue back. The Lions only shot 23.2 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from 3-point land.

“I was just really disappointed in our offense tonight, because we didn’t move the ball at all,” Columbia head coach Joe Jones said. “We didn’t make them work. We didn’t do a lot of the things we talked about.”

Columbia’s three leading scorers— sophomore guard Noruwa Agho, junior forward Brian Grimes, and Foley—went a combined 3-for-23 from the floor.

Agho, who led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage prior to this contest, went 0-3 from behind the arc and made only two of his 12 field goal attempts. While this could be attributed to a solid Big Red defense, both Foley and senior guard Niko Scott admitted that Columbia needs to work on its offense.

jasper clyatt / staff photographer

bad bounce | Shots were hard to come by.

Cornell

53

Columbia

74

“Noruwa’s a big factor for us, and he couldn’t really get off tonight,” Foley said. “I think they kind of keyed on him. It was really on all of us. I think we got to work a little harder to get Noruwa some better shots.”

Scott, who led the Lions with 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting, also stressed the importance of working as a team on offense.

“We were trying to do some things, we were trying to really get everybody involved,” Scott said. “It’s definitely a team offense, and we really need to embrace that and work as one in order for everyone to get easier looks.”

Columbia’s struggles on the offensive end of the court were not solely the fault of the Light Blue, as Cornell worked together to put forth an excellent defensive effort.

“You’re not going to win the game if you don’t play well together offensively,” Jones said. “But I thought Cornell did a great job in both games. They played well defensively in both games.”

Part of the reason the Big Red is so heavily favored to three-peat as Ancient Eight champion is that it plays as a cohesive unit.

“They just play a great team game,” Jones said.

Cornell, which has nine seniors on its roster, has had time to grow as a team and many chances to play together, something SEE men’s basketball, page 6